[Vision2020] Fw: COMMON MAN, UNCOMMON LEADER

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From: "Crapo News Release \(Crapo\)" newsclips at crapo.senate.gov
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:54:21 -0800
To: 
Subject: COMMON MAN, UNCOMMON LEADER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE		CONTACT:	Susan Wheeler (202)
224-5150
Week of February 25, 2007 	               Laura Thurston Goodroe
(202) 224-7500

	COMMON MAN, UNCOMMON LEADER
Guest opinion submitted by Idaho Senator Mike Crapo


February is a great month to talk about Abraham Lincoln's roots as a
common man, a man of the people.  Lincoln lived a timeless example that
provides no less leadership for America today than when he was at the
country's helm 150 years ago.

Lincoln had tragedy and challenges early in life.  When he was nine, his
mother died.  When his father remarried, the new blended family of eight
lived in a log cabin.  As a youth, Lincoln became very close to his
stepmother, a tender and strong relationship that lasted until her death
years later.  Teased as a young man because he was physically awkward,
Lincoln dealt with the hardship of peer ridicule by telling jokes.  His
sense of humor became one of his greatest character traits.

He developed a remarkable sense of empathy.  Lincoln's distinct ability
to read people and committed sense of compassion was evident in the many
pardons he issued.  Over the years, he honed his ability to motivate
people through honest companionship and by conveying a sense of mutual
respect.  He was a man of honesty and integrity.  He maintained that
integrity must be sincere-we are judged by our words, actions and deeds
more than by what we say.  All these exemplary personal qualities earned
him respect and love as a leader.  

Lincoln-esque qualities of compassion and forgiveness often seem to be
in great deficit today.  I can't imagine the turmoil and hateful,
vengeful feelings that permeated our nation in the midst of the civil
war, especially in the minds of leaders, forced to defend one side
against another.  Still, in a letter about re-admitting the State of
Louisiana to the Union in 1862, Lincoln asserted that "I shall do
nothing in malice.  What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing."

He believed that our Constitution created a system of government that
aimed to elevate, not degrade humanity.  Dictatorship and coercive
behavior violated Lincoln's sense of common decency.   He believed in
the Golden Rule-treat others how you would have them treat you.

Lincoln called our nation to respond to new challenges in a changing
world with innovation and creativity.  In his annual message to Congress
in December of 1862, Lincoln asserted, "Still the question recurs, 'Can
we do better?'  The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the
stormy present.  The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must
rise with the occasion.  As our case is new, so we must think anew, and
act anew."  

The exhortation was as strong a call to action then as it is today.  

It's fitting to end with Horace Greeley's words about his great
contemporary.  Greeley was a newspaper magnate and sometimes, a critic
of Lincoln.

	"He was not born a king of men...but a child of the common
people, who made himself a great persuader, therefore a leader, by dint
of firm resolve, patient effort, and dogged perseverance.  He slowly won
his way to eminence and fame by the work that lay next to him...doing it
as well as he could, and learning by his failure, when failure was
encountered, how to do it better...He was open to all impressions and
influences, and gladly profited by the teachings of events and
circumstances, no matter how adverse or unwelcome.  There was probably
no year of his life when he was not a wiser, cooler, and better man than
he had been the year preceding."

Abraham Lincoln's life and character will lead us to success and help us
make our communities, state and nation better today and for our
families.  
	
WORD COUNT:  597

To link directly to this news release, please go to:
http://crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/release_full.cfm?id=269609&&

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